The NBA is in a transition period, or at least it’s about to be. The game’s most recognizable stars are still going strong — LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant, most noteworthy among them. Those guys aren’t getting any younger though, and soon they’ll give way to a new generation that will need to carry the torch for the league, players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Victor Wembanyama.
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Edwards recently stated that he had no interest in being the face of the league, and his comments have gotten people talking.
LeBron James addressed them after his Lakers beat Edwards’ Timberwolves last night, saying that he understood Ant-Man’s reticence to take on that mantle.
“I feel Ant. I understand. I completely understand. There’s just weird energy when it comes to that,” he said.
He agreed with a point that former teammate Channing Frye recently made, saying, “Why do you wanna be the face of the league when all the people that cover our game and talk about our game on a day-to-day basis s*** on everybody?”
Brian Windhorst appeared on Get Up this morning, and he talked about the truth behind LeBron’s words.
In essence, there’s way too much negativity surrounding NBA coverage and not nearly enough celebration for the amazing things that happen on a nightly basis.
“I do think that we are out of balance in the way we look at the NBA, where we don’t celebrate the greatness as much as we should, that there’s more focused on negativity,” Windy stated.
Negative coverage is hurting the way the NBA is perceived.
Windy rattled off a list of great things that happened in the NBA just this week that deserved more coverage, from Steph Curry’s 56-point outburst to Zion Williamson’s first career triple-double and Tyrese Halliburton’s continued stretch of stellar play.
“Every single night in the NBA, the league is absolutely awesome, and yet, there is a prevailing belief that the league is in a bad place,” he argued. “This is absolutely preposterous … the league has never been better, it’s not even in question. But we don’t celebrate it enough.”
"I think we are out of balance in the way we look at the NBA where we don't celebrate the greatness as much as we should."
—@windhorstESPN on LeBron James' recent comments on being the face of the NBA pic.twitter.com/poSfkt8ptM
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) February 28, 2025
Kevin Garnett brought this issue up a month ago in response to Lakers head coach JJ Redick criticizing the media for covering the game in such a negative way.
“As media, do you think we glorify the game enough?” Garnett asked.
KG then answered his own question by talking about a ridiculous step-back three that Wemby made and a posterizing dunk that the 40-year-old LeBron threw down.
Collectively, everyone gave these insane plays two seconds of thought before moving on to the next thing.
These guys are absolutely right that coverage of the NBA is far too negative. Declining ratings are talked about without the proper context, given that people consume the sport in different ways now. Players average 30 points per night but are criticized for one bad shooting performance.
The NBA has more talent now than at any point in its history, and if we want someone like Anthony Edwards to embrace being the face of the league, we need to lift guys like him up instead of putting them down.
